Which to use
“direção” and “duração” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #954
- “direção” frequency rank
- #3,323
- “duração” frequency rank
- 4277
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | direção | duração |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ato ou efeito de dirigir veículo automotor | intervalo de tempo que uma coisa dura |
Where the eye mixes direção and duração
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. direção and duração follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between direção and duração
A purely visual mix-up. direção (/di.ɾɛ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and duração (/du.ɾɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4277, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
direção is recorded at frequency rank #954, classified as anoun, pronounced /di.ɾɛ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. duração is at rank #3,323, tagged as anoun, pronounced /du.ɾɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 4277, this pair ranks #70,675 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of direção vs duração
Shared letters: dorãç. Private to "direção": ei. Private to "duração": au.
"direção" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "duração" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "direção" for "duração" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "direção" or "duração" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "direção" and "duração" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "direção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duração" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,675 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "direção" and "duração" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "depuração vs duração". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #70,675 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.